Fantasy vs. Sci-fi: The impossible task of combining diametrically opposite genres

[Fuzzy Modem]

I’ve been frequenting another board for years with the development of this project, but now, as I prepare to re-release it after a near catastrophic false start, I find that I need a fresh perspective. I’m hoping that’s where you’ll come in. I need a new set of eyes before I’m ready to release the first issue, and so I ask that you read the following fourteen pages (ern, four at a time?) and give me your appraisal.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p001-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p002-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p003-1.jpg

I take criticism well, so please- be straight with me. Every thought you present will be weighted carefully. I’ve long outgrown the young artists egotism. You may have a better idea than what I came up with. If you’ll be kind enough to share it, I won’t take it for granted.

Ideas are all we have really. But unspoken they have no value. I appreciate your listening to my idea, and hope to hear yours. Thank you for having me.

It’s a pleasure to be a member of your forum.

[edit] In going back a rereading I think I may have over flowered my first post here with you fine people. Sorry. I’ve been working on my resume see? It’s a form of writing that might indicate a long oblong utensil inserted firmly into the anus. Appropriate for human resources, no so much for internet forums.

So- I’m a poor hippie, a single father, a hopeless computer addict, and a frequent law breaker. I also have piercings and I smoke. That should dispel any preconceived notions concerning my lack of badboy quality. It’s important in a new place to establish one’s self as an alpha male, and as I’ve probably ruined all chances of that by using words like “preconceived” I’d best find someone without any friends and kick his anus. That’s how it works right?

In all seriousness. Hope you like what you read, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Try the Day/Night button! You know you want to :)

[Fuzzy Modem]

I'm gonna be a bad, bad newbie and break the four images rule.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p005.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/NEWprologue06.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/NEWprologue9.jpg

[Fuzzy Modem]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p008b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p009b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/NEWprologue10.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p011.jpg

[Fuzzy Modem]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p012.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p013-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p014-1.jpg

[Fuzzy Modem]

Oh- and here is some stuff in development. The elves (though I’ve been told they don’t look like elves) are coming up on the next page.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/elftestwallpaper.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/iomflagshipwipparts2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/treetest03.jpg

And of course the website (wip)
http://crossovercomic.com/indexTEMP.php?page=about

Try the Day/Night button! You know you want to :)

[Fuzzy Modem]

Wow. I think I should have taken a better look around the board before I made my first post. I had no idea the league I was in here, and I'm a little afraid of getting crucified.

Just to clarify- I am not a professional. Not even an amature really. I worked for an itty bitty comic book company for three months and I didn't even work on comic books while I was there. I was hired for a CG short film. This is just a hobby. A free webcomic thats more of a movie story board than a traditional graphic novel.

I hope people like it, but I know its... very rough compared to the other artwork here. Still, opinions appreciated, just keep in mind I really have no idea what I'm doing, though that's probably pretty obvious.

[Deepex]

Really like the pages I've read so far, the artwork looks very professional so I feel you are selling yourself short.

Really interested in seeing some more of your work and how this story develops.

[TinMan]

Really like the pages I've read so far, the artwork looks very professional so I feel you are selling yourself short.

Really interested in seeing some more of your work and how this story develops.

I agree with this guy. :D

You've got me intrigued based upon those pages. I will say, however, that I'm not a fan of the "photo comic" thing (in that I mean the photo's put in the sequential, the photo-manips I don't mind as much), it just doesn't feel right to me, but you have some great digital art and effects in there that are all around awesome and it looks like you have a decent spin on the fantasy concept going there.

I visited the website and I have to ask; what's up with the gibberish on some of the entries? I wanna read somemore of the stuff, but I can't do that if I can't understand what's been written. :p

[The Grand Beef]

Aside from graphic novels, I have read a comic book in over two years. I'd buy this.

For two reasons:

1.) It's beautiful. The images are just fantastic! I love the style. For instance, the image of the crashing ship when the uncle first starts telling the story. The images of the navigators (I guess thats what they were?) The colors...they mood and style of the story fits very well with what you seem to be trying to do, which is...

2.) Combining Sci-fi & Fantasy. This is something I've thought about for a long time, and I don't understand why more people don't try this. They seem so different, but I think a lot of writers get so pigeonholed into whats been done before that they're afraid to break the mold and try something different within their genre. I've read a few that have bridged the scifi/fantasy gap, but most have come out with a lame feeling. Though I haven't seen much of the fantasy element to your story, I know its the beginning and I can feel that it can pull it off nicely.

The only criticism I can come up with is how quickly and un-naturally the story jumped into motion, with the girl out of nowhere questioning about her parents and such and such. BUT I know its a comic format, and I understand that being in the place they are, it would probably make the young girl curious. A very minor complaint.

Bascially, I've enjoyed what you've shown, I see nothing but overwhelming potential. Good luck, and keep us updated on the status of the project!!

~Richie

[Fuzzy Modem]

I visited the website and I have to ask; what's up with the gibberish on some of the entries? I wanna read somemore of the stuff, but I can't do that if I can't understand what's been written. :p

It is gibberish. The guy making the site for me used a text generator for filler to test the text boxes. Once the site s up it'll be replaced with... not gibberish. :)

Thanks so much for your words of encouragment. I'm positivly glowing. :) I've gotta run to my 925, but I'll post some back story later today.

[TinMan]

It is gibberish. The guy making the site for me used a text generator for filler to test the text boxes. Once the site s up it'll be replaced with... not gibberish. :)Well, that would explain the lack of readability then!!

Thanks so much for your words of encouragment. I'm positivly glowing. :) I've gotta run to my 925, but I'll post some back story later today.
I agree with the Grand Beef up there, you really hooked me with the crashing ship scene, that was really well done and the blue glow created a great feel and ambience. I really like your "pirate" ship there and your concept for "elves".

I look forward to reading more.

[Fuzzy Modem]

Something I needed feedback on-> I need to have established by the second to last page that the planet does not rotate, and therefore is forever divided between night and day. Did anyone not get that? Any thoughts? Super important. Thanks :)

[Fuzzy Modem]

Cover WIP. Am I missing anything? Issue number I suppose. Anything else?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/coverno1a.jpg

[Fuzzy Modem]

Okay. Final draft on the Cover.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/coverno1_2M4.jpg

[Roquefort Raider]

Fuzzy, your pages are fantastic and you deserve all the recognition they can bring you. Truly beautiful art, and a very fresh approach.

(By the way, if I may offer an opinion: I prefer your first draft for the cover. I think it has more depth).

Cheers, and keep up the excellent work!

[illma3]

Looking good mate, however the first draft on the cover does look a lot more appealing.

Nice job! :D

[TinMan]

Something I needed feedback on-> I need to have established by the second to last page that the planet does not rotate, and therefore is forever divided between night and day. Did anyone not get that? Any thoughts? Super important. Thanks :)

I didn't get that at all, unless I completely missed something, so I think some clarification would be effective.

[Pro]

Great art style, looks very good.

What technique are you using? Photo manipulation and filters combined with drawing?

[Fuzzy Modem]

Photo manipulation and filters combined with drawing?

Not a single hand drawn line. All photo and CGI.

You guys really like the first draft better? Wow... Hmmm. This is one of those hard descisions, because I've worked me ass off on the second draft and the first took very little effort by comparison. Drives me nuts. I'd hate to scrap the second draft after all that work, but if the first is really better... I'll have to sleep on it.

I changed the title text. Is this better? It's not as fancy but I think it's a lot easier to read.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/coverno1_2M7.jpg

[edit] darkened it up a bit and added some spears.

I didn't get that at all, unless I completely missed something, so I think some clarification would be effective.

Any suggestions?

[Pro]

The issue with the two covers, i can see why some feel the first one is more interesting. Couple of remarks since you asked for critiques:

-the weight of the two planets hovering over the army is more clearly in the first cover. Those are massive planets and they lose some of that in the second cover due to cloud cover.
-in the first cover the center character takes a leadership function more than in the second one. in the second one he is more part of the army, in the first one they await his commands, standing behind him.
-the raised pikes and spears in the first cover give the army a more "knightly" feel wheras the second cover they are more a "peasants" army if you get what i mean.
-The first cover feels a bit empty in the lower left and right corner compared to the second which you avoid in the second.
-The first cover is gloomier since the sun is down and only the sky is painted in reds and yellows whersas the second has more of a sunrise feel and therefore loses a bitof the gloominess
-Final remark, i'm not sure why the soldiers are looking down when an armada of spacecrafts is flying over their heads. if one or two are looking up i think it would connect what's happening in the air with what's happening on the ground.

Either of the covers is great though and from experience i know it must be a lot of work to get things just right. Keep up the good work, you are very talented and i really like what i've seen so far.

I might ask you in more detail about your techniques sometime if you don't mind. As a fellow artist i'm quite interested in how you work.

[Pro]

[edit] darkened it up a bit and added some spears.

Yea the addition of the spears and the overall darkening does improve the second cover significantly.

[Fuzzy Modem]

I might ask you in more detail about your techniques sometime if you don't mind. As a fellow artist i'm quite interested in how you work.

I start with digital photographs. Over the past four years I've amased more than ten thousand.

I use the photographs for three things.

First: My Characters are all shot in costume against blue screen. Thus far I only have one CG character (one of my other character's pets.) I have nine costumes now, the elf costume being the latest and far and above the most ambitions. It was made with tree bark, porcupine quills, modeling clay, sharks teeth, taxidermy eyes, and half a gallon (literally) of liquid latex.

Second: Textures. I try to use photos for all my textures. It helps blend the GC with the photo elements.

Third: Backdrops and sometimes foreground elements, depending on how many camera angles I'll need of the same area. When I shoot a location I try to get a few hundred angles so I'll have anything I might need.

I use photos wherever possible and only resort to computer graphics when I cannot logistically photograph the subject- such as a spaceship or a dragon. I've considered making scale models, but the ability to adjust lighting on the fly with CG proved more important the the greater realism offered by physical models.

I model in Rhino CAD and export to Maya for texturing and rendering. I also make both a high quality and low quality digital double for each of my actors in case I need a pose I didn't get during the shoot, or for shot involving dismemberment or death, or for things like creating an army.

Weapons and buildings are also created with CG, but always textured and referenced with real objects and buildings. Swords and guns are hard to match with the live action characters, but look much better than the props I originally tried to use. Now I have my actors pose with green wooden dowels that I just paint out in post.

The last step is Photoshop. Here everything is composited and matched for color and clarity. Grain is removed, blurred areas are sharpened, and sharp areas are smart blurred. I add blood, precipitation, shadows, frosty breath, glows and reflections.

For any close up shot of a character I paint in shadows based on a CG head I use for reference rendered in a separate pass with the CG lighting.

After everything is properly composited I use a complex combination of layering and filters to give the image a painted look. I've worked longer and harder on perfecting that effect than possibly any other aspect of the comic. No one filter does the trick so it took a lot of experimenting to get it right. The secret recipe is:

Three identical layers.

Top layer- Find edges filter. De saturate. Set to color burn. Adjust Brightness +75, Contrast +25 Manually paint out certain areas (stars for instance always end up black)

Middle layer- Remove from original document. Increase size to 3200 x Height. Smart Blur at radius of 10 and a threshold of 25. Run water color filter. Add back to original document.

Bottom layer- Unchanged from original. Adjust the opacity of the other two layers to the desired level.

The last step is to add the text bubbles. Which I always compress at a separate, higher level to maintain quality. The script for the first book is 144 pages and is translating to about two pages of comic for every one page of text. The script took me seven months to write, twenty two drafts, and more than eight hundred pages of notes. I'm still stuck on the last fifteen pages, but I'll finish them eventually.

So that's it. The medium has it's strengths and weaknesses, but for better or worse, it's what I love :)

[Fuzzy Modem]

Made changes to that panel. It it clear now that the planet is divided between night and day?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/panelchange01p13.jpg

[mattx110]

I start with digital photographs. Over the past four years I've amased more than ten thousand.

I use the photographs for three things.

First: My Characters are all shot in costume against blue screen. Thus far I only have one CG character (one of my other character's pets.) I have nine costumes now, the elf costume being the latest and far and above the most ambitions. It was made with tree bark, porcupine quills, modeling clay, sharks teeth, taxidermy eyes, and half a gallon (literally) of liquid latex.

Second: Textures. I try to use photos for all my textures. It helps blend the GC with the photo elements.

Third: Backdrops and sometimes foreground elements, depending on how many camera angles I'll need of the same area. When I shoot a location I try to get a few hundred angles so I'll have anything I might need.

I use photos wherever possible and only resort to computer graphics when I cannot logistically photograph the subject- such as a spaceship or a dragon. I've considered making scale models, but the ability to adjust lighting on the fly with CG proved more important the the greater realism offered by physical models.

I model in Rhino CAD and export to Maya for texturing and rendering. I also make both a high quality and low quality digital double for each of my actors in case I need a pose I didn't get during the shoot, or for shot involving dismemberment or death, or for things like creating an army.

Weapons and buildings are also created with CG, but always textured and referenced with real objects and buildings. Swords and guns are hard to match with the live action characters, but look much better than the props I originally tried to use. Now I have my actors pose with green wooden dowels that I just paint out in post.

The last step is Photoshop. Here everything is composited and matched for color and clarity. Grain is removed, blurred areas are sharpened, and sharp areas are smart blurred. I add blood, precipitation, shadows, frosty breath, glows and reflections.

For any close up shot of a character I paint in shadows based on a CG head I use for reference rendered in a separate pass with the CG lighting.

After everything is properly composited I use a complex combination of layering and filters to give the image a painted look. I've worked longer and harder on perfecting that effect than possibly any other aspect of the comic. No one filter does the trick so it took a lot of experimenting to get it right. The secret recipe is:

Three identical layers.

Top layer- Find edges filter. De saturate. Set to color burn. Adjust Brightness +75, Contrast +25 Manually paint out certain areas (stars for instance always end up black)

Middle layer- Remove from original document. Increase size to 3200 x Height. Smart Blur at radius of 10 and a threshold of 25. Run water color filter. Add back to original document.

Bottom layer- Unchanged from original. Adjust the opacity of the other two layers to the desired level.

The last step is to add the text bubbles. Which I always compress at a separate, higher level to maintain quality. The script for the first book is 144 pages and is translating to about two pages of comic for every one page of text. The script took me seven months to write, twenty two drafts, and more than eight hundred pages of notes. I'm still stuck on the last fifteen pages, but I'll finish them eventually.

So that's it. The medium has it's strengths and weaknesses, but for better or worse, it's what I love :)

well, just wanna say thanks for putting the hard work back into digital comics. them fools with their easy lettering, high-contrast excuse for inking, repeating the same drawing 15 times within 5 pages have got nothing on you.
great job.

in other news, how's alaska? i really love that state.

[Fuzzy Modem]

how's alaska? i really love that state.

Great right now. As high as eighty and green, with near 24 hour sunlight.

As you might guess, living in Alaska has been the genesis for a great deal of the comic book. During the winter it's easy to imagine a world without daylight, and during the summer you aclimate to perpetual sunlight in interesting ways, to say nothing of adjusting to the temperature. In the spring, as soon as it gets above zero we're out joggin in our shorts and T-shirts. :)

We've had a good deal of rain so far this summer, which is good. It should keep the wild fires down. A couple summers ago the fires were so bad the city was in a blanket of smoke for three months. You couldent see more than a mile. People had to be evacuated. It sucked.

I moved to the lower 48 to break into the movie buisness in 2003 and stayed for three years before moving back. I don't think I'll leave again but then - it is summer. I might change my tune in six months when it hits fifty below :p

[Pro]

So that's it. The medium has it's strengths and weaknesses, but for better or worse, it's what I love

Thanks, very enlightening :)

[Jared H.]

I just wanted to say:

I don't frequent this part of the boards very often, but after looking at what's been offered here, I am buying this comic.

Wow. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

[Darth Joker]

That's truly gorgeous material. You combine fantasy and sci-fi extremely well.

A couple bits of advice I'd give, though, since I'm a big fan of a lot of anime/movies/TV shows that pretty effectively combine fantasy with sci-fi...

Sci-Fi is largely about image/tech level (lots of scenes of flying metallic ships, like you've shown), while fantasy is largely about characterization, mood, and an overarching sense of awe, mysticism and wonder. As such, sci-fi is rooted largely in outwards appearance/style, while fantasy is rooted largely in character's beliefs, personalities, and values.

You want people to use swords - they can be high-tech swords (something like a light-sabre perhaps), but still swords. You don't want a lot of androids or cyborgs - one lone android and/or one lone cyborg is all you want. You want characters to wear attire that's befitting of fantasy - aesthetics and/or cultural tradition can be reasonably passed off for why they do so in a high-tech world/universe.

You don't want a lot of technobabble... certainly not the amount that you'd find in Star Trek, for example. I would suggest maybe one, or two, panels per comic (a page at most) involving detailed scientific explanations/technobabble. You want a pinch of this to effectively mix in the sci-fi flavour, but not a full cup of it, if you will. ;)

You want something magical/spiritual, but probably vague - sort of like the Force in Star Wars, and the Prophets in Star Trek: DS9. This is something that you can create an internal debate within your sci-fi/fantasy universe over... more technologically-inclined folks would favour naturalistic/scientific explanations to this vague whatever, while more mystical folks would favour spiritual/philosophical explanations. You'd want this to be an even-handed dichotomy, where both sides make valid points, and possibly both are partially right.

Of course, judging by the expertise and style of what you've shown on this thread, you probably don't need to hear any of this. Still, maybe it'll be some help to you. :)

[Fuzzy Modem]

Rather than a combination of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, such as Star Wars, I'm really going for a war between the two.

Dragons vs Starfighters
Mounted Knights vs Motorcycles
Floating Castles vs Airships
Wizards vs Telekenetic Cyborgs (the blue glowy guys who pilot the colony ship)

And so forth. I actually have 5 factions:

The Fallen and the Vagabonds both live on the night side. They once lived together in a caste system derived from a penal colony. Three casts- The Judicial Caste, The Enforcement Caste, and the Convict Caste, descended from the Warden and caretakers, guards, and prisoners respectivly. It was during the war with the Elves that the Enforcment caste was decimated and the convicts were armed for the first time. Soon after they rebeled and became the Vagabonds.

The Fallen have changed very little since they crash landed. The Judicial and Enforcment castes have gone on alone, fighting constantly with the Vagabonds. The Fallen have advanced particle beam weapons, anti-gravity technology, and kinetic shielding. All of this technology is powered by the core of their derelict starship however, and so they can only leave the city with portable power transmitters which last only a few days. This dramatically limits the Fallen's offensive capability.

By contrast the Vagabonds have had to start from scratch, their technology is all steam or gas powered, and they don't have so much as a LED readout. Everything is needles and tickers. They outnumber the Fallen 10 to 1 though, and so have been able to survive in the volcanic regions of the Nightside. They live in squalor, with a maffia or pirate style of goverment where the strong lead and the weak are used for cannon fodder.

On the border between night and day the Elves live in a vast forest that curves toward the ever setting sun. The Fallen used chemical and biological weapons on the elves during the war, and in the generations that followed the Elves became feral and animalistic. They have stopped ageing, heal almost instantly and can even reattach lost limbs, but they can no longer bear female children, and so their numbers slowly dwindle. The Elves can render themselves invisible in shadow and utilize an elemental magic.

On the Dayside the Iomans live under the apex of the sun. The Iomans are humans, and this world is infact the origin of humanity (Eden) The Iomans command the skies atop massive floating castles and their Brothers the Nords have tamed the planet's native beasts (Dragons) Their Capitol Elyndor is a hub of travel between all the other races, and the Iomans are subsiquently diplomats, with little taste for war. The Nords however are fierce warriors, and are often employed by thier human brethren to defend the outlying towns and ports.

The last faction is the Dwarves. They are completely Blind and quick to anger, but rarely leave their underground cities. The dwarves consider bathing dishonerable and are covered in dirt and stone and moss and little creatures that live in thier thick body hair.

I'm trying to take all the generic fantasy elements back to formula, as you can see with the elves. I want things to feel familiar, but new and interesting. I'm doing the same thing with the Sci-Fi elements, using classic aesthetic with a new twist.

Some pics from the website->

A Vagabond Fighter plane
http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/vagfightershowcase03_800.jpg

A Fallen Airship
http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/gsfairship01_wip02.01_800.jpg

Fallen Power Armor
http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/parikosandrotest05_800.jpg

A moored Ioman Castle, now the palace.
http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/iomfd05large_800.jpg


I also had to come up with a magic system. Here is an excerpt from the script:


KALEA
You’re talking about magic? Actual, magic? Spells? Witches? You can’t expect me to believe that.

ROSAUL
Well, what is a spell? It’s just a combination of words. Words are given power by intent. Take a spell for fire. Someone, somewhere, speaks three random words every time he lights a campfire. They may not even mean anything, and initially, they will make no difference. For the rest of his life this man speaks the words each time he lights the fire. He teaches his children the words, they teach their children. It becomes a family tradition, and eventually the man’s ancestors find that the fire starts easier when they speak the words. They teach them to the other people in the village. Someone writes them in a book. Now anyone, anywhere, with a copy of that book can start a fire with ease. After an age has passed you don’t even need kindling.

He speaks three words. Flame leaps from his fingers. Kalea laughs like a child at a birthday party.

ROSAUL (CONT'D)
It’s the same with relics and potions. A relic is just an object that’s been used for the same purpose with the same intent for a few thousand years. A potion is just a combination of ingredients, like a combination of words-

LERAINT
I take exception to that lad! Brewing a potion requires skill, finesse, subtlety... A master alchemist is like a fine chef!

[Fuzzy Modem]

2 new pages->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p015.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/Prologue_p016.jpg

[TinMan]

Any suggestions?

Made changes to that panel. It it clear now that the planet is divided between night and day?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/panelchange01p13.jpg
I reread the original version there and realized I did completely miss that "ZERO PLANETARY ROTATION" line. But I do think the new dialogue helps to establish that the planet does orbit the sun but it doesn't rotate on it's own axis (or am I wrong in that assumption?).

[Fuzzy Modem]

I do think the new dialogue helps to establish that the planet does orbit the sun but it doesn't rotate on it's own axis (or am I wrong in that assumption?).

Yeah, that's right. Thanks :)

[BoosterBronze]

GOOD LORD those pages look awesome. I made that castle pic my desktop.

EDIT: Are these images CGI, or are they photomanips or what? They are seriously cool. I swtiched my desktop to the boat now.

[Fuzzy Modem]

Are these images CGI, or are they photomanips or what?

A combo of both :)

[EarthDeconstructer]

Dude....AWESOME....
SOME ADVICE THOUGH.

For sci-fi- YOU.......NEED......ALIENS! PLEASE!:(

For Fantasy...try not to make the Fantasy stuff seem SCI-fi ish, make it fantasy ish. and the technology for the sci-fi stuff can't be fantasy ish.. like hi-tech swords...i don't believe in that...why if you have lazers.:confused:

I ALSO GO FOR the sci-fi vs. fantasy theme...been looking for it everywhere...can't find any, especially some aliens vs. magical creatures kind. I personally like it better with an Alien Science & Technology vs. the Planet's inhabitant's magic and creatures theme, though i never found anything else like that, and hey, maybe thats what you got going on here.

Ex. War of the Worlds on steroids vs. World of warcraft

BUT STILL I LIKE YOUR COMIC, WAITING FOR MORE:D :D

[Fuzzy Modem]

Oh! I almost forgot! The map->
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/crossovermapHR_02.jpg

Detail->
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/crossovermapHR_detail01.jpg

Detail->
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/crossovermapHR_detail02.jpg

So that's a bit of my doodleing ability. It's got the only hand drawn lines in the whole comic.

We'll be using the google maps inteface once the site is finished with text bubles for each page showing it's location in the world.

[EarthDeconstructer]

Could you just explain to me a little bit what the blue space ship people are please...are they like cyborgs or aliens or what are they? Just wondering since in today's Sci-fi you can usually tell, UNLESS ITS SO GOOD IT LEAVES YOU STUMPED.:D

[Fuzzy Modem]

Could you just explain to me a little bit what the blue space ship people are please...

The "Shapers" who control the ship are a hybrid between man and machine. The passengers are regular humans.

[Fuzzy Modem]

For sci-fi- YOU.......NEED......ALIENS! PLEASE!:(

My elves and dwarves are aliens. Note the atypical design.

[Fuzzy Modem]

I might be insane.

I spent all weekend trying to make a CG glacier for the upcoming battle scene. Nothing was working. Then I remembered I live in Alaska.

I'm going to Exit Glacier. I plan to sneak onto the ice and shoot a few hundred photos. I'll go late at night (sunset is around 1am right now) to avoid the rangers and I'll borrow some ice cleats, a pick and some rope. I found a guy to spot me, but if I fall into a crevasse and you never hear from me again, I want you all to know it's been a pleasure. I've appreciated your enthusiasm and support and I'd like to thank you sincerely.

With any luck at all though, I'll be back with new pages and a great setting for the end of the first issue.

If I might wax philosophical for a moment, I've always thought that true art is defined by it's ability to communicate a thought or emotion to the viewer.

Art makes us feel. That's why we need it. A world without art is a world without empathy or understanding. Regardless of your tool, be it paint on canvas, or words on a page, or the notes of a song, live your life with passion. Strive to communicate your thoughts and feelings, and you will make the world a better place for us all.

This comic book has been my life for the last 4 years. I've put more than four thousand hours of work into it thus far and I'm still growing as an artist. I always will be. We can only improve so long as we keep at it.

I will never give up. That's a promise- not to you, but to myself. We are not farmers, or doctors, or soldiers, or leaders. We are artists. Our purpose is to create beauty. We've been given a gift- the power to inspire through the act of creation. We owe it to ourselves to hone that ability to perfection.

That being said I'm pretty nervous about this. My girlfriend is pissed about it but she's given up trying to talk me out of it. This is one of those things that you just aren't supposed to do on general principal, yet dumbass tourists still go out there all the time and end up falling and getting stuck, or die on the way down, or fall through the ice into a melt cave and have to survive on tic tacs while they wait for the search party. Just like the silt flats outside Anchorage. A few people die out there every year when they get stuck and the tide comes in. Just a bad idea.

I think I'm doing it responsibly though. We won't be drinking. We'll take our time, make sure we have plenty of water and some flares and all that. Cell phones won't work that far out, but I hear once a cell phone is out of network range it becomes a GPS locater somehow. I'll have to do some more research on that. I mean, jeez, people used to go out exploring like this all the time. People still do for that matter, but I suppose they're “professionals.” I'm just... a computer geek, you know? I'm not used to the Laura Croft shit, but as long as I'm not retarded about it I should be fine, barring any really bad luck...

So wish me luck :) I'll post some pics when I get back next week.

[Pro]

Good luck, don't go home with hairy strangers with big feet.

[Fuzzy Modem]

Good luck, don't go home with hairy strangers with big feet.

This is Alaska. That description applies to half the population :p

[EarthDeconstructer]

The elves and dwarves are aliens.

mmmmmmmmmmm-hmmmm.:rolleyes:
Thats what they said in World of Warcraft about the draneir things and narru glowoing things, but are they aliens with super-technology without magical help....NOOOOOOOOOOO....
STILL, good comic, its cool:)

[ifeelasleep]

i really dig the pages you have posted so far, keep it up man it looks pretty awesome...

[Radical]

If I may add my two cents (and promote a comic idea I've had):

I just posted the comic script "PDA: Personal Djinni Assistant" (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=181335). The name is, of course, a play on "personal digital assistant". Basically, the story is an updating of "I Dream of Jeannie".

Basically, the character Kazzara is a member of a race of genie-like creatures with all the magical powers that implies; however, the Djinnis are more like Lovecraftean creatures in that they are alien beings/"cosmic" entities, although the genre is comedy/fantasy rather than horror. Also, at one point Kazzara quotes, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

So, basically we have a combination of science fiction and Arabian Nights fantasy, set in the modern era.

[Fuzzy Modem]

A couple before and after examples of the filters->

Forgive the horribly campy dialogue. These are pages from before I had a working script. I finished twenty two pages before realizing a script would have been a good idea. After this epiphany of obviousness, I spent the next eight months working on the script before starting again on new pages. Hence the addition of a prologue.

Unfiltered
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/xoy0001p0021_unfiltered.jpg

Filtered
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/xoy0001p0021_filtered.jpg


Unfiltered
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/XOy1p00004b_unfiltered.jpg

Filtered
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/XOy1p00004b_filtered.jpg

[Fuzzy Modem]

Couple more.

Unfiltered
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/xoy0001p0022text_unfiltered.jpg

Filtered
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Fuzzy_Modem/xoy0001p0022text_filtered.jpg

[Fuzzy Modem]

Oops! Double post. >snipped<

[howyadoin]

Nice-lookin' art there. I also prefer your first draft of the cover; the others look way too busy and cluttered. I think the logo screams "generic Photoshop filter", too. That 3-D stuff was old hat years ago.

Also, you've got a whole sequence of pages there that are almost completely blue. They kinda blur together visually because of that.

[TinMan]

Dude, you didn't die out there playin around on that glacier did ya? Where's our updates? :p

[zuludelta]

Not much of a fan of the fumetti-tinged look to the art but I still like it despite myself. If there's one thing I would suggest, I'd recommend varying the angle and perspective of your in-panel "camera" from the standard eye-level, long to medium shot. I realize it might be difficult to do high angles or bird's eye view shots, especially if you're doing all the photography for your photo-manipulations yourself, but I think it'll go a long way towards establishing depth in the panels.